


Gifts of the Lions

by sanbika



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Allura (Voltron), Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Fluff, Gen, Paladin Powers, Season 2 Continuation, mystic Lance, world-building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2019-05-05 22:10:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14628051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanbika/pseuds/sanbika
Summary: “What do you think, Lance? You have not said anything since we started discussing next steps.” The team turned as one to look at their Blue Paladin, sitting next to Hunk on the couch. Only to see him leaning on his friend, expression pinched, and sound asleep.





	Gifts of the Lions

**Author's Note:**

> Totally willing to write more about these Paladin powers LOL

“What do you think, Lance? You have not said anything since we started discussing next steps.”

The team turned as one to look at their Blue Paladin, sitting next to Hunk on the couch. 

Only to see him leaning on his friend, expression pinched, and sound asleep.

“Ugh, he’s sleeping! He hasn’t heard anything we’ve been talking about! Hunk, you should’ve woken him up. We’re planning for the future and trying to find Shiro here.” Keith fumed, practically growling. 

The bigger teen gulped nervously but shook his head while trying not to shift too much. Pidge just rolled her eyes and jammed an finger into Lance’s side, who didn’t stir. 

Allura glared pointedly and stood from her seat, “I understand he may be tired, Hunk, but I have to agree with Keith. It is not appropriate to fall asleep during a strategic meeting. We must communicate well and share our information. We need to be on the same page now more than ever with Shiro gone. Not slacking off! Hunk, please wake him.”

Hunk stared back indignantly, trying to defend his friend.

“Just hold on a second, Lance doesn’t normally fall asleep that easily, he has this whole routine with music, and cleansing, and stretching, and praying and stuff before he can even shut his brain off. Sleeping is not something he can just do anywhere and he needs to sleep 8 hours a night or he’s a total mess. If he actually fell asleep right here and now, he’s either sick or he really needs to sleep. And something’s telling me that he needs to sleep.”

Keith scoffed and was about to press the point but noticed Allura and Coran look at each other sharply. 

Before anyone could say another word, Lance sat up blinking, his bright blue eyes unfocused, not looking at anyone in particular.

He started to speak in an unusual tone, quiet and hazy, like he was still dreaming.

“Lotor can though… He’ll know… where to look…”

And then he dropped back to rest on Hunk’s shoulder, deeply asleep. 

The Castle Ship was completely silent. Even the mice looked flabbergasted. 

Pidge immediately turned to face Lance completely, “What the heck is he talking about? Who’s Lotor, Hunk? An old flame?”

Hunk bit his lip thoughtfully, considering his friend’s profile, “I have no idea, maybe he’s just sleep-talking… although I’ve never heard him do that before…. and what he said was oddly specific to our conversation about Shiro…”

The Green Paladin shrugged, “Maybe he was absorbing it subconsciously. Either way someone needs to wake him up or get him to go sleep in his room. We need to finish this meeting and I have to get back to my work-”

Allura interrupted her, practically vibrating with excitement, a blinding smile on her face. 

“No, no, you cannot go, at least not yet, not when Lance has connected to the Gift of the Blue Lion!”

Keith looked confused, “The what?”

Coran clapped his shoulder happily. 

“The Gifts of the Lions, Keith. A strengthened bond between paladin and lion. Once one member fully experiences it, not just flashes of it, the other paladins are drawn into their own gifts through the pull of the Voltron bond.”

Pidge’s eyes were intensely focused on the Alteans, considering all the data points of the information. Hunk looked wary. 

Keith was just irritated, “Why didn’t you tell us about this before? We could’ve trained for it, tried to harness it for our advantage? And what are the gifts? Talking in our sleep?”

Allura rolled her eyes at the very literal Red Paladin but Coran laughed, twirling his moustache. 

“We couldn’t just tell you everything that we knew about Voltron or even the Lions when you first arrived. The Paladin-Lion bond is something special, there’s simply too much information to share all at once. And theoretically, the bond can always evolve and adapt to the paladin in new ways so what we told you might not even have come true.”

Allura nodded, still fighting a glowing smile. 

“It might have overwhelmed you and it is best for these gifts to develop naturally and become stronger on their own. As to your question on what the gifts are… Besides the traits the lions demand from their partners, each lion has a specific set of gifts for their paladins to help them. It is difficult to say exactly how these traits develop or when, for every paladin has their own unique bond and path. There has never been much point comparing the paladins of old to the current paladin. Now that Lance can use his gift, I can sense all of your gifts and help you to develop them!”

Pidge interrupted this time. “So how is Lance’s sleep babble about Lotor or whatever in any way a gift?”

Allura turned to her inquisitive paladin, “I am sure you have already begun to guess, Pidge. Each gift presents similarly but ultimately is unique to their bond with their lion, and as Hunk said, Lance’s answer was oddly specific to our conversation. If I had to generalize, I would say this: the Black Lion, is the Guardian of the Sky or Space, and has always been associated with the astral plane and connecting to beings billions of light years away, one paladin even was said to communicate with the dead.“ 

She reflected for a moment, before turning to Keith. 

"I have heard that you felt the pull of the Blue Lion. I believe that is because the Guardian of Fire, the Red Lion’s gift is instinctual, although it usually appears on the battlefield or in times of danger. Your lion can help you literally sense peril or an unseen hazard. Just as the smell of smoke precedes fire, you can detect and avoid danger. Your gift is unique since you have used your instinct in a broader capacity than the paladins before you. You let your gift guide you to hidden things, as well, which is why you were able to find the Blue Lion in the first place. If you continue to hone this gift, it will be of immeasurable help to you as you take on the role of the Black Paladin.”

Keith looked hesitant. “How would it help me? Wouldn’t I just lose that gift and get whatever gift the Black Lion bond creates?”

Coran shook his head. “Not at all. You will always be connected to the Red Lion, that is the lion that chose you. Her gifts will not disappear. And while it is possible to access the gifts of the Black Lion while you pilot it, nothing is certain since we have not been in a situation like this before.”

Allura nodded before turning to face the group on the couch. “Have you figured it out Pidge?”

Pidge hummed, “I think so. These gifts seem to be tied to the nature of the lions. Shiro acts as the Guardian of the Sky as the Black Paladin, and his gift makes a literal use of the sky or space. Keith’s is fire, and his gift is almost like a spark, instantly knowing something he couldn’t know.”

The princess looked proud, “You are absolutely right Pidge, although these gifts have appeared in different forms in the past for other paladins. What do you think yours are?”

The girl shrugged, frustrated. “That I can’t make heads or tails of. I’m the Guardian of the Forest, but I’m not particularly interested in nature. I am good at quickly sorting large amounts of data and finding solutions, my professors would say unnaturally so,” she grinned a little at Hunk.

“Pidge, that is your gift, and it will only grow now that Lance has accessed his. As the Guardian of Forest, you are guided by nature. And as we know, nature only appears to be random, but at its core is guided by laws of science, mathematics, patterns. You have the ability to identify and solve patterns, learn and adopt them to recreate it, making quick use of foreign data and technology for your advantage. That is an almost unheard of ability, regardless of your experience. You have been unknowingly using your gift for quite some time, which is why we can always rely on you to hack into Galra tech without a problem.”

Pidge smiled softly, “I’ll have to thank Green for giving me the best gift of them all then. But what about other green paladins? Were they able to solve problems like that, use alien tech?”

Coran shook his head in answer, “Each gift is unique to the paladin. The previous Green Paladin had a more natural ability, recognizing threats in plant life and animals. It was quite useful in learning what was safe to eat when visiting other planets and quadrants.”

Hunk had been sitting quietly, but spoke up now, “And what’s mine, Allura? I haven’t noticed anything… unusual… no latent psychic abilities here. Do I get one too?”

“You do, and you already have exhibited this gift at least once.”

Blinking wide eyes, he gestured towards his chest, “Me? I did?”

Allura nodded and walked closer to him, sitting on the opposite side of Lance, next to Pidge. She checked on Lance, who hadn’t moved an inch from his place resting on Hunk’s shoulder. 

“When we went to rescue Nyma and Rolo, you expressed, repeatedly, a bad feeling, an intuition that those two were up to no good. And unfortunately we were naive and did not believe you. And again, with Shay, you were able to trust her in a way few others so new to space could.”

Hunk looked disappointed for a moment. “…Isn’t that the same as Keith’s instinct?”

“No, Hunk. While Keith has instinct as his gift, it is specific to situations. If he develops his gift, he may be able to sense locations, objects, weapons. Your gift appears to be presenting as being-based, meaning your intuition is dependent on sentient life. It is especially important since you will know, for sure, whether a person is honest or is trying to manipulate us. You may even be able to extend this gift to non-sentient life to determine whether it is a threat.”

Hunk threw his hands up before realizing it had unbalanced Lance, who fell forward, only to be caught by Allura and placed gently to lay in her lap. “But I am not that good with people! And what does that have to do with me? I’m the Guardian of Land, shouldn’t I be able to, I don’t know, be like Magneto and manipulate the iron in blood or something?”

Allura blinked in confusion before turning to stare at the Yellow Paladin. 

“It is precisely because you are the Guardian of Land that you can intuit the intentions of others. Land has many forms, from mountains and rocks to dirt and sand. Land changes and shifts. You can identify shifts in others, the movements in their intentions. And it is most important that you do, since the Galra have been devastating the universe, more people have been forced into evil or immoral ways of life to get ahead. It is hard to determine who our true allies are, as we saw with Rolo.”

Hunk took a moment to feel proud of himself for unknowingly tapping into a special bond. But he quickly turned to look at Lance, stock-still in the Princess’ lap. “But what about Lance? He’s just sleep-talking?”

Allura bit her lip, casting her blue-pink gaze on each of the Paladins and Coran in turn. “He did not just talk, Hunk, he gave us a vital clue on what we need to do next and who we need to turn to to find Shiro.”

Keith startled, jumping to his feet. “What clue? That weird word he said is a person? Well what are we waiting for?”

Allura leveled him with a lifted eyebrow and he folded back into his seat next to Coran with a frustrated grunt. 

“Patience, I have to explain the Gift first, and then we can ask Lance more questions while he is in the trance." 

Pidge’s eyes bugged out and Hunk silenced himself by slamming a hand over his mouth. Keith’s mouth twitched. 

"You see while each Paladin has a unique expression of their gift, the most consistent is the Gift of the Blue Lion, the Guardian of Water. In nearly every planet, water is the source of life and connected to any mysticism and religion that exists there. Water, a mirror or a purifying rain. Even Altean rituals use water for divination. Because of this, the Blue Lion is most closely connected to the other paladins and draws on their gifts, as well as the innate magic created by the five quintessences of the paladins and the lions. It takes the energy and casts it into time, finding clues… her paladin will interpret what she finds. Other paladins have used meditation or water itself as a medium. Lance, apparently, will see the future Blue sees in his dreams.”

Pidge puzzled over this. “You mean, every Blue Paladin could see the future? Isn’t that a game-changer? I mean, can’t we win the war with this?”

Coran shook his head, “If only we could. The gift of foresight isn’t so easy to obtain and isn’t perfectly clear. Lance has to learn to go into a trance on his own, which can take quite some time. If he can’t control it, he may fall prey to it in times of danger, so he will need to train to control the gift inside him. Besides that, the Blue Lion can’t see everything, but it can only see the most likely future, and even more, will not always offer this information. There are limitations to divination, and the Blue Lion can only share vital information in times of turmoil. Lance may see more of the future, but he can only speak it when the Blue Lion feels it is of dire importance. If he spoke the future without her approval, without respecting the limitations, he would severely damage his bond with both his lion and the team.”

Allura nodded. “These gifts are an essential development in your growth as paladins, but they are not meant to take over your bond with either your lion or your team. You five were brought together to form Voltron and to defend the universe. These gifts should only be used for that purpose. Paladins in the past who were too focused on their gifts defiled Voltron and were forced to leave. Zarkon was one of these wayward paladins who used his powers for personal reasons, creating and influencing the Galra to attack the entire universe. You must be responsible with your gift and share whatever you learn from it with the team.”

There was a silence in the room and as Allura looked over her paladins, she saw their serious expressions. They nodded at her in succession. 

Coran stood up and adopted a yogi pose, “I will find whatever information I can on developing and harnessing these gifts so you control them instead of them controlling you. But for now, you may want to focus on that sense and explore it. I believe that wacky practice of meditation Hunk does may be just the thing to jumpstart your self-awareness.” He walked off only to be called back by Allura.

“Coran, wait, I want to get some more answers while we can. We do not know when Lance will be able to do this again.”

The other five moved closer around Allura and Lance.

The princess bent her head and bit her lip nervously, painful memories of the last time she’d seen her father consult his blue paladin coursing through her mind. She took a deep breath before speaking quietly to the teen in her lap. 

“Blue Paladin, are you ready to speak to us?”

Lance opened his eyes half-way, looking more asleep than awake. He spoke again in that strange dreamy tone, “Yes.”

Hunk stifled a gasp, and whispered, “This is really freaking me out, I can’t take this, is this my paladin power? I don’t think this is a good idea. Isn’t reading the future taboo in like every culture…”

Pidge, ever patient, reached over to pinch him on the leg, “Quiet, Hunk! We need any lead we can get!” She adjusted her glasses before they slid down her nose, laser-focused on Lance’s face.

Keith glared at them before stabbing a finger towards Lance.

Allura’s eyebrow was twitching but she restrained herself and focused again on the paladin.

“Blue Paladin, we must find Shiro. Can you tell us where he is?”

Lance didn’t say anything but his expression wrinkled. 

“Prince… Lotor knows…. Shiro… he’s lost in the sky.”

Allura breathed in sharply, “Do you mean the astral plane, Lance? Is Shiro trapped there?”

Lance had closed his eyes but nodded his head firmly before going limp.

Everyone was quiet, excepting Hunk who whimpered softly about how creepy this was. 

The astral plane… never had Allura heard of a physical body being trapped there, it wasn’t wise to go there physically for too long, the energy was too powerful…. if it was true, then Shiro had to be rescued quickly otherwise they might lose him forever. 

Allura smoothed her worried expression.

“All right Paladins, we have a plan. Hunk, take Lance to his room. It is extremely draining to tap into the quintessence of the Blue Lion without preparation and he will need to sleep for some time to recover. Then I want you, Coran, and Pidge, to begin researching the connection between the Black Lion and the astral plan immediately. Look for anything, any lore, documented or not.”

Pidge grabbed her laptop from underneath the couch, “Already on it, Princess!”

“Keith, you are with me, we are going to identify the most likely places Lotor may be hiding out.”

Keith pursed his lips, “Who is Lotor anyway?”

Allura grimaced, remembering Lotor’s particular traits. 

“A spoiled, pampered prince: the disgraced son of Zarkon. An old acquantaince. We need to find him as well as establish a plan for making him share the information Lance believes he has. Lotor is not good at sharing, not without a price.”

Keith stood, eyes alight with determination.

“Don’t worry Princess, we’ll get him to talk.”

Hunk gently lifted an exhausted Lance off her lap and into his arms before turning to leave, murmuring reassurances to his best friend (and maybe himself). Pidge had already begun, data from the castle reflecting off her glasses. Coran had wandered off to the archives and Keith stood ready to follow her to the bridge.

Allura nodded, confident in her team. They would find their missing piece.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [tumblr!](https://figandmelon.tumblr.com)


End file.
